Reason Rally: A Secular Coming-Out Celebration

In a show of solidarity that would have been unimaginable even just a few years ago, thousands will be flocking to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on March 24 in celebration of secularity. The Reason Rally, a day-long event featuring notable entertainers and speakers and attracting busloads of nonbelievers from all over the country, could be a watershed moment for the secular movement.

The event is not a protest and certainly not a religion-bashing affair, but instead can be best understood as a coming-out party for an entire movement. This has caused some to belittle the rally, suggesting that demographic unity around the notion of disbelief is itself nonsensical. Such critiques, however, only reflect a failure to understand what fuels the modern secular movement.

It is very true that many Americans—even many who are themselves nonreligious—see the idea of personal secularity as somewhat insignificant. That is, even many nonbelievers rarely consider emphasizing their religious skepticism—their secular worldview—as a primary means of identification. Ask a typical American nonbeliever to describe her basic lifestance, for example, and she may use terms like "liberal" and "feminist" and "environmentalist," and perhaps numerous others, before reaching any identifier that would raise the issue of religious skepticism.

For many in recent years, however, personal secularity has become an increasingly important aspect of their identity, a clear way of describing one's basic lifestance in the midst of a political and cultural landscape that has become an anti-intellectual wasteland. As such, the Reason Rally, as its name suggests, can be seen as a public manifestation of the secular trend that vehemently opposes America's descent into irrationality.

Ironically, the primary root cause of the growing secular movement is the Religious Right. Because politically mobilized religious conservatives have become such a visible force in America, nonbelievers increasingly feel the need to assert themselves as a demographic. Whereas America's seculars previously went about their daily business without openly displaying their naturalistic, reason-based identity, this indiscreet approach has required rethinking in the face of religious conservatives constantly claiming moral superiority, attacking church-state separation, and tainting public policy .

Indeed, as the Religious Right has consistently grown in influence for over three decades—to the point that religious fundamentalists are now routinely elected to office in much of the country and are even serious contenders for the presidency (while open nonbelievers are unelectable)—many who are personally secular have come to realize that they can no longer keep their religious skepticism in the closet. As modern America listens to high-profile conservatives talk seriously about limiting access to not just abortion, but now even birth control, the notion of reason has suddenly become important, an affirmative means of standing up and pushing back against faith-based absurdity.

Thus, the Reason Rally.

Some, still feeling uncomfortable with open displays of secularity, insist that we should go back to those days when religion was simply a non-issue, when polite public discussions avoided questions of religion altogether. The Religious Right, however, has made that impossible, and therefore those who are indeed secular are increasingly standing up to demand that the over-the-top exaltation of religion stop, that Americans carefully consider how counterproductive it is to stigmatize secularity in the modern world.

Thus, the cry of the seculars: We don't believe. We won't leave. Get used to it!

Hang on America: On March 24—rain or shine—Secular Americans are coming out.

Oh for sure, i agree 100%, what happens at this rally won't be evidence based thinking's fault whatsoever. But let's call a spade a spade, this is a meeting of atheists, they're not there to talk about reason and evidence, they're there to talk about how they're not theistic (aka atheistic, an in atheists). With the exception of a few individuals how many people there will actually understand the finer details of evolution? Going back to Dawkins again, do you think he's going to lecture about his research, or the secular role in society? I won't say for sure until it happens but i'm guessing he's going with option #2.

Anyways, that's my case. I feel i should probably mention that i consider myself Agnostic, although if put against a wall i'm leaning towards atheism. I'm not trying to support the influence of the church in education/government (quite the opposite actually), but like i said earlier, let's call it what it is.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but anyone who can accurately describe themselves as agnostic is technically an atheist as well. Atheism is a blanket concept based around a lack of belief in a god, ergo anyone who is agnostic (does not have strict disbelief, but does not believe either) is most accurately described as an agnostic atheist.

As for evolution, I would bet money that every atheist who attends that rally will have some knowledge of it. One of the reasons the atheist movement has become politicized is due to the "Intelligent design" movement, which is attempting to teach pseudo science as equal to evolution, one of the most well supported scientific theories out there.

I don't think that's exactly true, i've always felt agnosticism was better described as a blanket concept based around a lack of belief in a god OR nothing. Just like how zero is a number a lack of a god is as much a belief as belief in a specific god, both of which are beliefs that i'm not really confident can be proven.

What i am confident of however, is that a good 3/4 people of that rally probably still believe that people evolved from monkeys.

"Thank you for that statement; it speaks volumes for Intelligent Design. I have no gorilla ancestors; don't know about anyone else."

I don't think anonymous meant what you think they meant. I'm pretty sure what they meant was that a lot of people misunderstand evolution in that they think humans "evolved from monkeys." Humans did not evolve from gorillas either. Humans, gorillas and chimpanzees all share a common ancestor (which lived about 5 to 8 million years ago.) That common ancestor is the one whose lineage eventually diverged, one branch becoming chimps and gorillas, the other branch becoming hominids.

So you are right, you technically don't have any gorilla ancestors. So if that helps leep better at night, you're all set.

If we are being etymologically consistent, agnosticism and atheism are not mutually exclusive. They state positions on two different questions. 1. Can you know if there is a God? No. Then you're agnostic. 2. Do you believe that there is a God? No. Then you're atheist.

The Greek word "gnosis" is the noun "knowledge." So an agnostic states that they don't/can't "know" if there is a God or gods or not. 'A-theism' is the lack of belief in a God or gods. So one can be an agnostic and an atheist (I am.) I don't know if there is a God or not. But also, given all the logic and evidence I've been presented with thus far, I'm inclined to believe that there isn't a God. Therefore I'm an agnostic atheist.

On the other end, a Christian who thinks they know there is a God and believes in a God, would be a gnostic theist.

I agree with Cincinatheist (clever name by the way) on all of the above. If you want an even better explanation of the way that agnosticism overlaps both an atheistic world view and theistic/polytheistic/deistic/pantheistic/panentheistic world views, Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has an excellent explanation on pg. 50-51. Good reason to hit up your local bookstore this weekend.

I think it's safe to say that most of us who are shelling out hundreds of dollars to visit DC next weekend have at the very least read that book. It gets into evolution quite a bit, so the assertion that 3/4 of us have no idea how evolution works is... well... demonstrably false. His followup bestseller, "The Greatest Show on Earth" was all about the mechanics of evolution, how it happens, and why the ID arguments against it are pseudoscientific bunk easily disproven.

We have to know about these things, here in the Bible Belt, so that when someone in our family (inevitably) tries to go all "Way of the Master" on us after too much eggnog, we have articulate responses to navigate that conversational minefield in a way that encourages them to find another topic of conversation.

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I have actually been planning on reading the whole thing at some point, school's just been getting in the way. I find it too hard to look at a laptop screen all day then read, i need a less involving break haha. I still have Ayn Rand sitting on my shelf too... but that's another debate.

I myself am no stranger to theistic family pressure, to this day my Oma and Opa (dutch grandparents) still insist on giving me a daily prayer book every birthday, which i take and smile and thank and recycle. I cringe at the idea of them finding out. Luckily they can barely use e-mail haha. Parents are pretty religious too, though not as in-your-face. I'm still in the closet.

I'm still not 100% sure of how the rally itself will be run, i suppose we'll all find out in a week, i'll come back to apologize if i'm wrong, i promise.

I'm pretty sure the way it will play out is that thousands of atheists from around the country (and, likely enough, some folks who still believe in some kind of vaguely defined supernaturalism, but are otherwise very much on the same page as us when it comes to things like science education and marriage equality) are going to get together on the National Mall and have a great time. We may wind up going home inspired to be a bit more active in our local communities instead of being armchair internet ninjas. (whistles casually to the ceiling)

On a more personal note, as well, my fundamentalist ex-step mother outed me to my deeply religious grandmother. It was horrible. I completely understand why you might want to stay in the closet, pretending to believe so your loved ones don't worry about you. Completely. I resent my ex step-mom to this day for the fact that my grandmother worried about me on her death bed.

But, at the very least, I think it's worth recognizing that many of us who have stood up for what we don't believe have unique (and oftentimes painful: see above) life experiences that are made easier by sharing in a sense of community. Belittling our excitement about a chance to get together and hear some of our best and brightest describe the world as we see it in front of the Washington Monument during the cherry blossom festival is... well... nevermind. I get a sense of contrition from your last post, and I think you see where I'm going with this.

Good article, Dave, but I think you need to make a distinction, as you almost do, between secularism, atheism, and anti-theism. secularism is simply the separation of church and state as implied by the First Amendment and stated as such by Jefferson. Atheism is a lack of belief in a supernatural being, and anti-theism is the conviction that religion is unjustified because it is not true and extremely dangerous to humankind, other species and the planet earth. There are those of us, myself included, who are all three, but some people are not. Thank you for writing about this subject which is my most identifying feature. I hope that this will get more of us to come out of the closet.

Republicans aren't the only Jesus people. I'm a moderate liberal Biblical Christian, non-denominational and rarely participate in traditional religious ritual. And some conservatives are atheists. Two prominent approaches in the new antitheist movement: associating spiritual views with political persuasion, and claiming superior intellectual and reasoning ability. My comment rebutting a recent Lawrence Krauss Huffington Post piece received ten negative, most hostile responses, none positive. Yes! I'm passionate about dissenting the atheist argument. The humanist vs. faith battle is intensifying. Many Christians believe--as in the contraception controversy--that lawmakers threaten to tear down church/state boundaries to force believer conformity to government-established values. I favor productive heated debate with a unity goal on non-spiritual issues, but think uncompromising divisiveness the only way with non-believers and faith-based, as an unbridgeable chasm separates us. I support the right to free speech and action at both ends, as our God gives all liberty to do what we will.

Prudence, I can understand your desire to debate atheist beliefs, because you have the show-stopping, debate-ending "Magic" card, which can be used to answer any question on any subject. Atheists are sometimes forced to say "I don't know" and "We might never know", which both seem a bit weak next to your "Mysterious Ways" and those other well rehearsed rebuttals that are the basis for your arguments. And there's no competing with your 2000 year-old experts' book either, except on their "world is flat" and some other gems that a bunch of us now believe not to be true. I'm sure they got the rest of the Bible right, close enough to fight wars over anyway.

Nobody is saying they are, HOWEVER the more extremist Reich wing you are the greater the odds of you being a full blown fundamentalist psychotic because the two go hand in hand.
Both views rely on ZERO facts and you have to pretty much divorce yourself from all reality in order to believe either one.

Most (like 99.99999%) Atheist will not be fooled but the sheer nonsense and blatant bald faced lies of the Reich wing.
Just like most Reich wingers will never be swayed by 100% provable FACT.
In fact, both Fundies and Reich wingers pride themselves in totally disregarding absolute fact in favor of faith in either religious dogma or elected official or propagandist media nut.
Facts mean NOTHING whatsoever to both fundies and reich wingers therefore you can never reason with them.
You simply can not reason with crazy.

You should be blasted down every single time you post, you are spewing pure nonsense and I hope Atheist continue to fight back against this barbaric, pre dark ages, absolute nonsense world view that ALL religious people are suffering from.
You are infected with what amounts to a mind plague, it has destroyed your thinking and reasoning mind and it is entirely up to you to fight it because even though 100s of 1000s of Atheist could completely destroy your arguments and do so backed up with empirical facts it makes no difference whatsoever because that is basically how the Reich wing and the Fundies judge how strong their "faith" is, by flat out denying absolute fact.

Until you break the fever of the mind plague of religion then there is no discussing anything with you in a logical, reasoning manner.
Get well soon.

I also wish things were different. The rise of the right has been very destructive in this country. I find religion of all types to be divisive and destructive. We should be attempting to grow beyond these beliefs as human beings. Sometimes I despair.

Linda, thanks for the explanation of the distinctions. I've described myself as a heathen pagan for years. It makes people laugh and seems to diffuse some of the judgmental feelings of others who are religious. I am considering changing that answer to secular humanist perhaps.

I do not discount all spirituality. Be present at the birth of a child and experience the life that comes with the first breath. Awe inspiring and compelling. What makes us 'alive' comes from somewhere and returns to that somewhere. Dogmatic religious beliefs imposed by other human beings have no place in something so wondrous. We are all embodied spirits. What other explanation would anyone else need? It is intended to be the Mystery.

Dave, I will be with you in spirit (ha!) on the 24th. I hope the day is wonderful, all goes well and the rally sparks the sensible debate and discussion it deserves. Richard Dawkins - I am in awe!

I don't want to debate religious faith versus non religious beliefs. Believe as you will. Don't attempt to force me to believe the same things you do. NO ONE has the answers!!! Any religious beliefs are only guesses. Guess away, folks. I will know the answer, as will we all, at the end of our days!

This post was just fun to read. It's a real time view of the "critical mass" that the Reason Rally is all about creating. Yes, please do change that answer! It's much harder for religious people to demonize atheists as immoral, foolish, or dangerous when they know that some of their closest friends are not inclined to believe in a god or gods.

We believe God created humans, apes, chimps, and that ancient creature, only separately. We're related to animals, plants and organic materials in that they all issued from the Creator. The evolutionist claim of evidence is constructed around the premise of non-belief in God. In humanity's collective memory there is no evidence of one creature in process of metamorphosing into another: no photos, no film, no living morphing animals at present. No spontaneous generation. Nothing. Some evolutionists try to verify their theory by calling adaptation evolution, which it isn't.

It is actually painful to read a "Creationist" trying to talk about Evolution.
You have absolutely not one clue of what you are talking about.
I mean literally less than a newborn infant when it comes to Evolutionary Theory.
Please stop as I am embarrassed for you.

It is actually painful to read a "Creationist" trying to talk about Evolution.
You have absolutely not one clue of what you are talking about.
I mean literally less than a newborn infant when it comes to Evolutionary Theory.
Please stop as I am embarrassed for you.

Have you ever had a debate with a believer who is also well versed in the science of modern biology and actually understands what change over time means in the context of a planet that is nearly 4 billion years old?

Just curious. I would encourage you to do so if you get a chance. It might be interesting to see how people adapt their religious beliefs to fit around the mountains of evidence that support the theory of evolution... in exactly the same way that your beliefs have adapted to encompass a heliocentric solar system.